Alright. It's a Monday night which means guess what......Bands to Watch. Yessir.
This week I've got one very new one and an oldy that's coming back into style.
Nick Drake http://www.nickdrake.com/index.html
Before Elliot Smith, Sufjan Stevens, and the modern day singer-songwriter, there was Nick Drake. Nick was all but forgotten by the mainstream music scene before Zach Braff selected one of his songs for the Garden State soundtrack. "One of these things first" off Drake's sophomore Bryter Layter is a superb example of Nick's songwriting abilities. Intricate melodies and a morose voice coupled with fiercely intense lyrics are hallmarks of Drake's style. Like many icons of the 60s and 70s the biggest shame was that his life was cut abysmally short when he overdosed on anti-depressants. The tragedy is that he was never appreciated for his work during his 26 years on this planet. The only three albums he ever released are intricate beautiful pieces of art, true art. A box set of his work entitled Fruit Tree has recently been re-released. I highly recommend picking it up, grabbing a candle, a cigarette, and a glass of great scotch or port, turning it up to 11 and immersing yourself in this long unloved master.
Youth Movies -- http://www.myspace.com/youthmovies
Youth Movies doesn't deserve a normal type of review or blog post. They deserve something different.
Imagine yourself as a satellite. You are on a mission to photograph the surface of Jupiter, the solar system's largest planet.
You are 10,000 miles away from the upper reaches of the jolly giant's atmosphere. the twinkling of start of a thousand galaxies form the backdrop. It's still dark, the space is immense. Equally large is the enormous looming shape in front of you. You can see the swirling clouds of the mighty planet. All you can think is that there's a reason they named it after the most powerful of the Greek gods.
Different coloured clouds swirl into each other; most of the time in a pleasing fashion, but occasionally they clash violently making you appreciate the beautiful collisions all the more.
You reach the upper layers of the atmosphere. The clouds are wispy, cool and fresh. As you descend they get thicker, almost oppressive. The temperature begins to rise. Lightning strikes to your left. Scared, you flee in the opposite direction unwittingly straight towards the Red Eye. The immense storm has been brewing for centuries and would swallow 3 Earths whole.
The winds pick up, the storm deepens. Shivers run down your spine. You are filled with terror and exhilaration in equal measures. The colours envelope you, the lightning tingles your metal satellite toes, the wind whips you round and round. Then...with a BLAM...you're flung back out into the deep reaches of space, your mission unaccomplished, yet you feel fulfilled even as you drift off into darkness. Alone.
Don't forget that Drake also got some popularity from the Volkswagon "Pink Moon" commercial.
Posted by: neonfoxtongue | December 19, 2007 at 12:16 PM